S&P's New Payback Evidence

Prosecutors wanted to know about its downgrade of U.S. debt.

Aug. 15, 2014 5:25 p.m. ET

It's not a smoking gun. But Standard & Poor's claims in a new court filing that it has documents showing that government lawyers who have targeted the firm over its flawed ratings on mortgage bonds also had "intense interest in and engagement regarding S&P's downgrade of the United States."

The Department of Justice sued S&P last year for an eye-catching $5 billion, and S&P has argued that it was singled out for payback because it was the only major ratings agency that stripped Uncle Sam of its...